The present invention relates to accommodation apparatuses for accommodating a transmission medium. The present invention is suitable, for example, for an accommodation apparatus for accommodating an extra portion of an optical fiber cable (“OFC”) connected to a communication device.
The recent development of the information-oriented society has promoted frequent information transmissions. In general, the information transmission uses transmission media, such as a cable, and an OFC among them has multipurpose utility because it may effectively transmit data over a long distance at a much higher speed than those of conventional pair line or coaxial metallic cable. The OFC is a glass or plastic made thin line for transmitting an optical signal, and has a concentric shape in which a clad covers a center core. The OFC efficiently transmits a signal far away as an optical signal enclosed in the core using a difference between core and clad light diffractive indexes and the total reflection of the optical signal.
For example, a high-speed Local Area Network (“LAN”) that achieves a base band signal transmission at a transmission speed of 100 Mbps is called the 100BASE standard, and includes the 100BASE-TX and 100BASE-FX. The 100BASE-TX uses an Unshielded Twisted Pair (“UTP”) cable as a transmission medium, while 100BASE-FX uses an OFC as a transmission medium. The OFC has great utility for providing not only a LAN Ethernet with signal transmissions over several kilometers but also the Fiber To The Home (“FTTH”) inexpensively. A media converter usually converts a signal between two transmission media. The media converter, as used herein, is a device that converts a signal propagating through one transmission medium to a signal for a different transmission medium. These different transmission media include, for instance, an UTP and an OFC and, and an OFC (of a single mode) and an OFC (of a multimode).
It is difficult to handle an OFC except for engineers. The OFC is made of such fragile materials as the above core and clad, and the curvature less than a permissible value would lessen the transmission capability and damage the OFC. An engineer usually lays out an OFC, but users sometimes have to handle it. For example, once an engineer properly attaches the media converter, a user should take over its handling.
While the OFC has a length specified by the standard, the standardized length is sometimes not optimal to service conditions. For example, when the OFC has an extra length, it is conceivable that a user applies an unintentional force, thereby bending the cable or damaging a connection between the media converter and the OFC or undesirably damaging its transmission capability.
It is conceivable to accommodate the OFC to protect from an external force, but a mere accommodation is not enough for the accommodated cable. That is, the accommodated condition must assist in maintaining OFC's transmission capability.